PT council updates street addresses

Confusion may occur when emergency services respond to two houses on Hoover Lane that sit across the street from each other, but the adjacent houses have addresses on Stonebrook Drive in McMurray.

Council voted April 22 to require the two property owners with the out-of-sync addresses to change from Hoover Lane to Stonebrook Drive. When asked by one of the property owners involved, William Johnson, township solicitor, told the resident there was no place to appeal and that the decision was final.

In the same area, two nearby roads list the same name of Hoover, but one is Drive and the other is Lane. Council debated whether to change the entire length to Hoover Drive with several property owners on Hoover Lane expressing their displeasure with the idea. Changing from Lane to Drive would not be a simple task, said one resident who cited the need to change bank account addresses, and would require change notifications to the Internal Revenue Service, passports, magazines, utilities and driver’s licenses and vehicle registration all without moving. Six properties would be involved.

After discussion, no motion was made to require the six property owners to change from Lane to Drive.

In other action, council:

• Awarded a bid to East West Mechanical to replace the hearing and air conditioning systems in the municipal building. The base bid was for $462,000. An alternative bid for $27,200 was added to have the work done in the evening to eliminate disruption to township employees. No time was given for work to begin.

• June 10 was the date set for a public hearing on amending the digital sign ordinance to permit color other than red on signs along Route 19. The color is not to exceed 50 percent of the space. No action will be taken that night on the amendment.

• West Penn Power was granted a right-of-way to move a utility pole near the abutment of the Sugar Camp bridge that will be replaced. The pole must be moved before work begins. West Penn will pay to move the pole and will attempt to reroute electric circuits in an attempt to prevent power outages in the area.

• Residents may be required to use large, wheeled recyclable containers if the new garbage contract uses automated recycling trucks. Using the new containers could result in lower costs. Council agreed to seek a state grant of $250,000. However, at $50 per container with 7,500 households in the township, the entire cost to the township would be $375,000. Some of the cost could be absorbed by a lower cost of the garbage contract.

• Council agreed to continue with the archery program for deer management and decided against authorizing another deer survey as the current program is controlling the deer population. The number of deer-related vehicle accidents has decreased since the archery program was instituted.